SF backs Mission Rock development plan by Giants

S.F. DEVELOPMENT

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, April 5, 2012

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

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Giant's CEO Larry Baer speaks at a press conference announcing the Giants' plan to turn their parking lot and Pier 48, at right, into a mixed use development with parks, stores, offices, and restaurants in San Francisco, Calif., Wednesday, April 4, 2012. less

Giant's CEO Larry Baer speaks at a press conference announcing the Giants' plan to turn their parking lot and Pier 48, at right, into a mixed use development with parks, stores, offices, and restaurants in San ... more

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

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Mayor Ed Lee speaks to reporters after a press conference announcing the Giants' plan to turn their parking lot and Pier 48, (shown at top) into a mixed use development with parks, stores, offices, and restaurants in San Francisco, Calif., Wednesday, April 4, 2012. less

Mayor Ed Lee speaks to reporters after a press conference announcing the Giants' plan to turn their parking lot and Pier 48, (shown at top) into a mixed use development with parks, stores, offices, and ... more

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

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The San Francisco Giants announced their development plans for seawall lot 337. Here is an illustrated Mission Rock site plan.

The San Francisco Giants announced their development plans for seawall lot 337. Here is an illustrated Mission Rock site plan.

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The San Francisco Giants announced their development plans for seawall lot 337. In the heart of the project, surrounded and animated by buildings, restaurants, shops and cafes, is an urban-style square that will serve as the community's outdoor living room. Mission Rock Square is designed to be reminiscent of New York's Bryant Park and other truly great urban open spaces around the world. Mission Rock Square will be home to special events and festivals and will be the ideal place for workers, residents and visitors to hang out at lunch, after work, and on weekends. less

The San Francisco Giants announced their development plans for seawall lot 337. In the heart of the project, surrounded and animated by buildings, restaurants, shops and cafes, is an urban-style square that ... more

SF backs Mission Rock development plan by Giants

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The Mission Rock development the San Francisco Giants plan to build on the bleak parking lot across from AT&T Park could provide a missing piece for the massive Mission Bay development, city officials said Wednesday.

Matz was at the ballpark for the official announcement of the team's plan for a 27-acre site that includes Pier 48. The design for the site includes a waterfront park, 1,000 apartments, 1.7 million square feet of campus-style office space and plenty of restaurants, shops and other retail space, designed to serve not only baseball fans, but also the workers and residents in the new development and the fast-growing neighborhood around the ballpark.

Wednesday's news conference took place on the ballpark's center field promenade, using McCovey Cove, the parking lot and Pier 48 as a backdrop. With cars starting to fill the lot for the afternoon game against the Oakland A's, Giants President and CEO Larry Baer gestured out at the cranes, new construction and recently completed buildings that have sprung up around Mission Bay.

"There's an increasing demand for neighborhood ser-vices, opportunities for cafes, stores and shopping," he said. "This will truly be a mixed-use urban project."

Mayor Ed Lee, joined by Supervisors David Chiu and Jane Kim, continued that theme, stressing that the Giants' plan is just the latest part of the city's decades-old vision for Mission Bay.

"This is the fulfillment of the plans of several mayors," dating back to Dianne Feinstein, Lee said.

"I have every faith we'll work as a team ... to get this through and not have the traditionally tortuous process," Lee said.

The exact details of the plan the Giants laid out Wednesday won't necessarily survive until construction starts in 2015. The mix of residential, office and retail space can change, depending on market factors, and the design is likely to be refined during what is expected to be a two-year environmental review.

But the Giants' partner in the development, the Cordish Cos. of Baltimore, has years of experience in building sports-oriented developments and Giants officials are quick to link parts of their project to other successful developments, including San Francisco's Levi Plaza.

That doesn't mean there won't be problems. Negotiations with the city and the port over the development terms, including who pays for what when it comes to infrastructure improvements, and other financing questions are expected to take months to resolve, said Jack Bair, Giants senior vice president and general counsel.

Parking also is a concern, even though about half the fans typically take mass transit to games. While the planned 2,690-space parking structure will replace all the parking lost by the development of Lot A, it also will have to serve the new residents and workers at the Mission Rock village.

Although the project has been in the works for years, there have been few complaints from the surrounding community, said Bair.

"In general, people feel we're creating an amenity for the area and Mission Bay," he said.

That relatively unanimous support could dissipate as details of the plan are hashed out and the environmental trade-offs that accompany any waterfront development become more evident.

But it's a marquee project that fits the city's long-range plan for the port and its property, said Monique Moyer, the port's executive director.

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"We are going to do ... what ports around the world are struggling to do," she said, "and that's combine a working waterfront with a new neighborhood."

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